Nervous Germany relieved after Polish test
THE German pairing of Ralf Souquet and Thomas Engert have moved into the 2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool quarter-finals.
But they will be relieved to still be in the competition as both players struggled with their break shots before clinching a narrow 8-6 victory over Poland's Radoslaw Babica and Mateusz Sniegocki.
Germany, who are regarded as one of the favourites to win the title, now meet either England or Canada in the last eight on Saturday.
Poland won the lag but Germany were soon at the table with Engert sinking the 9-ball for 1-0. A German dry break gave Poland a chance in the second but Babica's missed brown seven proved costly and it was 2-0.
Souquet's break in the third was illegal as three balls did not either go into the pocket or over the headstring so the table was handed over to Poland and they ran out from there.
Both sides were having trouble mastering the break as Babica came up dry in the fourth and Germany moved two ahead before Engert's break saw him opt for power that left the cue ball on the carpet. Poland capitalised to now trail by 3-2.
Germany then restored their two-rack advantage before Poland, aided by an outrageous fluke from Sniegocki where his pot on the green six missed in the top right pocket and then went in the side pocket brought it back to 4-3.
It should have been 5-3 to the Germans but Souquet failed to down a pottable 8-ball and that gifted Poland the rack for 4-4.
Poland, for the first time in the match, took the lead by winning the ninth, although a dry break in the tenth gave Germany a chance to tie the match up instantly.
Unbelievably, Germany had more problems with their next break. So from five breaks they had had four dry breaks and one foul and again it proved costly as Poland moved two racks away from a huge upset.
But Poland then also produced a dry break and Engert and Souquet ran out for 6-6.
Souquet decided to break from the other side of the table for the first time and had his first legal break but had to play safe. However, a one-rail escape from a snooker from Babica went wrong to give Germany ball-in-hand and they moved to the hill at 7-6.
When they needed it most, Engert came up with a good break and Germany ran out to triumph 8-6.
